The Belcrest Witch Project
by fuzzyalligator
Summary: Sirius and James are making a documentary on the Belcrest Witch. They hire Remus and Peter to help them out before venturing into the woods, despite warnings. Based off of The Blair Witch Project. WIP


So, a couple of months ago I watched _The Blair Witch Project_ and thought it would be a fun story to write. And this is what I came up with.  
>There will be some similarities to the movie, but the events won't be exactly the same. You don't need to have seen the movie to understand what's going on.<p>

**Disclaimer** Any characters or places you recognize don't belong to me. I'm not that awesome.

Oh, and unbeta'd. So if you see any errors, let me know? Thanks in advance!

**oO0Oo**

"Hey!" Sirius cried when a backpack flew past him into the trunk of the car. He turned around with a glare to find his best friend already walking away. "That could have severely hurt me!"

"Only your ego!" James called back with a laugh and continued into the house they shared. Sirius grumbled under his breath as he shoved the dark green bag to the side so there would be room for the other stuff.

Remus and Peter were bringing the equipment from the school and he was told it would take a lot of space. Remus had sent him a text message the night before with the list of all the items they were bringing so he knew how much room was going to be needed.

Of course, being the man that he was, Sirius quickly changed the subject of their texts from the documentary to something more interesting. The two ended up talking late into the night until James told him to go to bed or he'd call off the entire thing.

And Sirius couldn't have that. How else could he spend the entire weekend (nights included) with Remus Lupin?

"Here are the empty bags Remmie asked for," James said a few minutes later, thrusting a couple small gym bags in Sirius' face.

He glared at James again, snatching the bags from him. "_Don't_ call him that!" he scolded with a blush. He said the name once on accident and now James wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

"What are they for anyways?" James asked, leaning against the back of the car with his arms folded across his chest.

Sirius shrugged and tossed them on top of James' backpack. "I think for food," he replied, closing the trunk without warning James, whose hip had been caught slightly. "We'll just have to ask him when they get here."

"And that will be when?" his friend asked as they two made their way back to the small house.

The place they lived in was barely big enough to hold the two college students but it would have to do until they graduated and got jobs that paid more than minimum wage. But, for now, it was an alright place to live. The only thing that either of them could complain about would be how thin the walls were.

Sirius refused to let Lily – James' girlfriend – stay over because he could hear _everything_ that went on in the room beside his.

Sirius plopped down on the second hand couch with a huff. "They should be here soon," he finally answered, throwing his arm over his eyes to try and block out the sun streaming in from the window. After his conversation with Remus, he still hadn't gotten much sleep because he was too excited about this project.

It was worth more than 40% of their final grade in their film class and both students needed to get an A just to make sure they passed. That's why they were doing a documentary and why they picked the subject they were doing.

As soon as Sirius realized he was very close to failing, he knew right away he had to pick the perfect topic for their final project. Luckily, Lily was taking a local mythology class and had told him about The Belcrest Witch.

It didn't take much to convince James to team up with him in the project. When he was asked who would film them, Sirius knew exactly who to pick.

Remus was majoring in Filming and had even won a few awards for some of his short films. Sirius knew he was the right man for the job (and it didn't hurt that if Remus said yes, they'd be spending a lot of time together). It took some convincing, but Remus finally agreed if he could pick who would help him with sound.

Peter was Remus' best friend and also a genius at anything that had to do with a sound board. Their professor even said they were lucky to have those two other students helping them out.

"Have you packed the script?" James asked, stopping in the doorway from the kitchen with an apple in his hand.

"It's in my bag," Sirius told him, uncovering his face to sit up. "Along with all our research, the map, and GPS. You've got the books?"

James nodded then bit into the apple. "They're in the bottom of my bag," he said around a mouthful of the fruit. "Along with pens and some extra paper. Just in case."

"And people call us irresponsible," Sirius said with a smirk then perked up when he heard a car coming down their gravel driveway. "They're here!"

"Quick!" James said excitedly. "Go check your makeup and hair in the bathroom mirror while I distract them!" For the third time that day, Sirius glared at his laughing friend and got up from the couch.

He hurried over to the front door, which had been propped open to let some cool air into the small house. A blue Jeep pulled into the spot right beside James' old Dodge Spirit. Remus opened the driver side door and waved when he noticed Sirius smiling at them.

Sirius waved back and was quickly pushed out of the doorway. "Remus!" James said with a big grin. "Hey, Pete! Glad you guys found the place."

"It was actually easier than you insinuated," Remus said, getting out of the Jeep. Peter was opening the trunk up and was shaking his head as he listened to them talk.

Suddenly, barking came from the back of the house and a big black lab came sprinting from somewhere. He ran right up to Remus and jumped on him, trying to lick his face. Because the camera man hadn't been expecting it, the two of them fell to the ground, but it didn't seem to deter the canine who licked his face in greeting.

"Did I forget to mention I had a dog?" Sirius asked, rushing over and pulling his pet off of the other man. He snapped his fingers once and the dog instantly sat down.

Remus levied himself up on his arms and wiped his face clean with a hand. "Yeah, you seemed to have failed to tell us about him."

"What's his name?" Peter asked, setting the bags on the ground and walked over to the now behaving dog. His tail wagged happily as he remained seated and was rewarded by Peter petting and scratching his head.

"This pup's name is Padfoot," James introduced, offering Remus a hand up, which the brunet gladly took. "He's part of the family."

Remus chuckled and walked over to pet the dog, too. "Nice to meet you, Padfoot," he said and smiled at Sirius for a second. The raven-haired man tried to calm his beating heart but it couldn't be helped due to Remus' closeness. "Will he be coming along?"

"Uh…" Sirius exchanged looks with James who had gathered the forgotten bags by now. "If you guys don't mind. He's trained."

"I noticed," Remus said with a chuckle and moved to get something out of the trunk. It was a small black bag which held his personal camera. It looked really expensive and Sirius remembered seeing Remus with it before.

The camera man took a few pictures of the dog and the two men before putting the camera back. "Should you be taking pictures?" Peter asked his friend and was answered when Remus pulled out another memory card from his back pocket. "How many of those did you bring?"

"5 extras," he said, putting the one back. "But they're 16 gig so we should be okay."

"How about instead of taking pictures we start moving this stuff?" James said before reaching into the trunk. He pulled out a small box, and before he could open it, Peter ran over to take it from him. "Got something you don't want us to see?" he asked with a laugh as Peter held the box close.

"It's the adapter," Peter replied, his face flushed slightly. "If this thing breaks you can pretty much say goodbye to any good audio. And be careful with that!"

Sirius had joined his friend at the back of the Jeep and had pulled out a camera which resembled the ones that were used with News Reporters. "Is this what you're going to be using?"

Remus walked over and nodded. "It's the school's so be very careful with it," he said showed Sirius how to place it upon his shoulder. "It's a Panasonic AG-HMC40P video camera and worth more than your life."

James chuckled as he grabbed a computer case which he was told held Remus' MacBook Pro. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?" he asked in amazement.

Remus laughed lightly and took the camera from Sirius' shoulders. "You have no idea," he said and took his items to James' car.

After that, the four students moved the rest of the equipment from the Jeep to the Dodge Spirit and were on their way. It didn't take long for them to get to the closest town to the woods where they'd be staying.

Since they'd be camping in the woods for three days and two nights, it was decided that they should only get quick meals that didn't necessarily need to be cooked – it would just be even more weight for them to carry.

Once they had paid for their food, Sirius decided it was time to do some interviews from the local residents. They left Padfoot in the car so he wouldn't scare off any of the potential interviewees. While Remus got the large video camera ready, Peter helped James and Sirius with their wireless microphones.

Before Remus could even turn on the camera, there were already a few people interested in speaking. While most of them were girls fascinated in the four students, there was an elderly man who was willing to speak with them about the legend.

"What can you tell us about The Belcrest Witch?" Sirius asked as James handed his microphone out to the man to speak into.

Albus Dumbledore looked at the camera briefly before turning back to Sirius to tell them the story. "Before I tell you about her, you need to know about the town she came from, Belcrest. It was built back in the late 1600's, right before the witch hunts in Salem. Over the course of a few months, men started to go missing in the woods. No one thought much of it at the time; it wasn't uncommon for people to get lost in the woods in that day, regardless of how familiar they were with it. But, when one of the missing men returned with a story, it quickly became evident that what had happened to the others hadn't been an accident.

"He told the people that he'd been lured into the woods late at night by some woman during the full moon. He was led deep into the forest until he reached a deep river. By then the moon had been hidden behind some clouds and he couldn't see a thing. But he could hear something, or someone, walking around him.

"Before he knew what was happening, something was cutting his back, his front, his arms and legs but leaving his face alone. He ran into the river, hoping to get rid of whatever was attacking him. Luckily his plan worked and he stayed there until the sun came up.

"He ran back to the town and when he got there he saw the woman who had lured him into danger. Mary Beth was accused of being a witch and driven from the town. The people of the town didn't want to kill her, fearing her ghost would haunt and harm them. They believed that God would punish her in the woods.

"That was the last anyone saw of her," Albus said with a solemn nod and bid the boys' farewell.

Sirius and James turned back to the camera. "And that's the legend of the Belcrest Witch," James said, shaking his head slowly. "But…is that the end of her?"

"Our sources tell us no," Sirius added, holding up one of the books James had packed. "Let's see if we can find someone who's seen the Witch recently."

This time they interviewed the high school girls who'd been watching from afar. They told stories from years ago about the witch.

"My mother knew about a little girl who went missing in the woods," one said and her friends agreed earnestly. "The whole town searched for her but all they found were her footprints. The dogs they used followed her scent to the river but it stopped there."

"I heard that if you go past the river, she'll find and kill you," one of the boys said. "No matter where you are."

The teens had more stories but it was already getting dark and Remus had left the light in the car, not anticipating recording this long.

"Maybe if you catch us before we leave tomorrow morning, we can include you," Sirius said to some of the disappointed girls which made them a bit happier.

Once their little audience was gone, the four college students headed back to the car to drive to the motel they'd be staying at. On the ride there, Remus played back the footage they'd gotten.

"That's one creepy story," Peter said, looking past Padfoot – who was sitting between the two of them – to watch Albus tell the tale once again. "Why'd you want to do a documentary about her?"

Sirius shrugged before switching lanes, "It just sounded like an interesting idea. Not to mention it means we'll be spending a whole weekend in the woods."

"Only if you two agree to help carry some of the equipment," Remus muttered but it was loud enough to everyone to hear it.

James turned around in his seat to smile at Remus. "Oh, don't be silly," he said with an innocent look. "We'll carry all the food." Remus rolled his eyes and went back to watching the footage.

**oO0Oo**

"What do you mean you've only got one room?" Peter asked, sounding exhausted. "I asked for two."

The woman pushed her square glasses up as she looked over the four men. "Some of the rooms are being renovated and a pipe burst in the others. The room that you'll be staying in was quickly made up for you. If you don't like it, then, I'm sorry to say, you'll need to find another place to stay."

The four students exchanged looks but finally agreed to stay in the room. This was the closest motel to where they would be entering the forest and none of them wanted to go searching for another.

"Then, here are your keys," she said, handing over two brass keys to Remus who gave the other to James. "If there's anything you need, just call the front desk. Have a good night."

"Thanks," Remus said with a smile and the four men made their way to the room.

It was obvious that the room was in the middle of a renovation when they opened the door. The walls were bare of any wall paper and there were two different light fixtures. Thankfully, the room was clean and the two beds were made perfectly.

"I call this one!" James said, running over and jumping onto the bed nearest the bathroom. Remus tossed his bag on the other one before sitting down. "Pick your bed mates, guys."

Peter looked at them both before heading to the old couch which was obviously meant for the renovators' breaks. "I think I'll use this," he said, lying down. "It's not as uncomfortable as it looks."

"Sirius?" James asked with a smirk and nodded toward Remus – he was oblivious to the nod because he was rummaging through his bag for something.

He ignored his friend in favor of dropping his bag on the floor and turning around. "I'm going to go get Padfoot," he said and caught the key Remus tossed at him.

Since it had gotten darker it had also gotten colder, so Sirius ran to the car. Padfoot was curled up on the back seat but instantly jumped up when the door was opened. "Come on," he said, attaching the dog's leash before he could jump out of the car.

As they made their way back to the room, someone opened the door to the office just as they passed. "We don't normally allow dogs," the woman from before said when she saw the lab. Sirius was about to apologize but she continued. "But because of the issue, I'll ignore it."

"Thanks," he said with a smile.

"What are you boys doing here?" she asked, walking over and let Padfoot sniff her hand before petting him. "It's not often this little town gets tourists."

Sirius chuckled lightly, "We're doing a documentary on the Belcrest Witch. We're even going to stay the weekend in the woods."

The motel owner stood up straight and stared at him with wide eyes. "You can't do that," she said, sounding scared.

"Why not?" Sirius asked, taking a step back. Her tone was scaring him more than he would have ever admitted to.

"When people go in those woods, they never come out," she told him.

Sirius stared at her for a moment before smiling weakly. "Thanks for…that. But I'm sure we'll be fine," he told her, practically dragging Padfoot away from the woman; the two nearly ran back to the room.

"What's with you?" James asked when Sirius burst into the room and slammed the door behind him. "It's like you've seen a ghost."

"Worse," he said, letting go of the leash and watched as Padfoot jumped onto the bed beside James. "That lady is _crazy_! In the morning, I'm heading straight to the car."

James unhooked the leash and let it fall between the beds. Padfoot was on his back waiting for a belly rub and taking up the entire half of the bed. Which meant the only other place to sleep was either on the floor or with Remus.

"Where'd he go?" Sirius asked, picking his bag up from before and tossing it next to Remus'. He dug out his pajama bottoms and started to undress. While he'd been gone, James and Peter – who was fast asleep on the couch – had changed.

"Bathroom,' James said but seemed more preoccupied with Padfoot. "By the way, I don't have any reception. Can I use your phone to call Lily?"

"That's what you get for being with that company," Sirius joked, grabbing his jeans off the floor and tossing the phone over to James. Just then Remus came out of the bathroom, wearing only a large t-shirt and his boxers.

"Either of you have reception?" he asked, looking up from his own phone. "I tried to call my mom but it kept breaking up."

"Sirius does," James said, standing from the bed with the phone up to his ear. "Not the best but it's better than nothing."

Remus shrugged and rubbed Padfoot's head as he walked past the dog. "Are you going to be sleeping with me?"

"Huh?" Sirius asked, blushing deeply.

Remus stopped beside the bed and blushed too. "I didn't mean that!" he said hurriedly. "I meant sleeping in the bed with me. Oh, never mind." He turned away from Sirius and looked in his bag.

"Hi, Lils!" James said from behind him and then sat on the foot of Remus' bed. "Yeah, we made it here safe and sound. Sorry I had to call you from Sirius' phone, mine doesn't have any reception."

Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled out the small bag that held his toiletries. "Gonna go brush my teeth," he said to know one in particular and hurried to the bathroom. By the time he was done, Remus was in the bed and James was looking over the books they brought along. "Having fun?"

"Just looking up the legend and some other stuff about 'the Witch,'" James whispered back and chuckled softly when Padfoot started to snore.

Sirius smiled down at his dog before he went to turn off the main lights. "Well, have fun with that," he said, climbing into the bed with Remus, making sure there was room between them. "Turn off the light when you're done with the researching."

James muttered something but continued to read as Sirius fell asleep.

**oO0Oo**

"Is everything packed?" Remus asked as he zipped up his own bag. Peter nodded and headed out the door to the car. James had already taken Padfoot outside and was paying for the one night and Sirius was searching the room one last time. "Sirius?"

"Yup, I can't find anything," he said, standing up from where he'd been kneeling by the bed, making sure nothing was hidden underneath. "Now for an adventure."

Remus rolled his eyes but smiled as he followed Sirius outside. But, instead of joining him by the car, he went to return the last key, giving Sirius his bag to put with the others.

While he did that, Sirius hurried back to the car and helped Peter fit everyone's bag in the trunk. "Ready for some hiking, Pete?"

"Not really," the shorter man answered truthfully and climbed into the passenger seat.

Sirius arched an eyebrow and went to his side of the car. "If you didn't want to do the hiking, why'd you come? We're not paying you that much."

"Remus asked me to help," he said with a shrug and waved to the other two men who were making their way back to the car. "Plus, he said if I helped then he'd buy me a video game I've been dying to play."

"Nice bribe," Sirius laughed and opened the back door for Padfoot. Remus took the seat behind Peter as James complained about calling 'Shot gun.' In the end, James moved to the back seat only because he was promised an extra donut if he did. Sirius and Peter exchanged looks as the car started.

"Nice bribe," the blond man said and the two shared a laugh.

The four ate their breakfast as they drove to the forest. Padfoot was too busy sticking his head out of the window to pay much attention to them, only coming in once to take a bite of James' donut.

It was a little after 9 when they finally parked. "Everyone out!" James said from the backseat and reached past Padfoot to open the dog's door. The lab sprinted out and started to sniff the area around them, enjoying all the new smells.

While he did that, Sirius hooked the leash to his belt and then everything was unloaded. Remus ended up carrying both cameras while Peter carried the adapter, wireless microphones, and the headphones he was going to use. James and Sirius divided the remaining equipment up and each carried a gym bag of food along with their own supplies.

"Got everything?" Sirius asked, looking around at everyone. Aside from the equipment, each man carried hiking backpacks filled with other things they deemed essential. There were two tents and a first aid kit. "Hope so, 'cause we're not coming back for three days."

He pulled out the GPS and started heading into the woods. Padfoot chased after his master with the other three men following behind.


End file.
